The 2024-25 academic year is shaping up to be UVA’s biggest year yet for undergraduate study abroad opportunities, with significant new financial aid that will enable hundreds of students to participate in dozens of previously inaccessible programs across multiple disciplines around the globe.

This summer, students embarked on a variety of Education Abroad programs, both established and newly introduced, that challenged them to explore the real-world impact of their studies within diverse cultural contexts. Immersed in these unique environments, they gained fresh perspectives that enriched their academic and personal growth.

Misha Panda is a third-year student at UVA majoring in anthropology with a concentration in medical anthropology, care, and ethics along with a minor in biology. She is drawn to global health and health equity and leads the Doctors Without Borders club at the University. Panda encourages other students to immerse themselves in experiential learning opportunities and adds that community engagement fuels her engagement both within and beyond the university.

Ben Ross is a fourth-year student studying global development, history and religious studies. He developed a deep interest in Kenya and Swahili while at UVA and plans to build on it after graduation.

Ambassador Steve Mull shares the details of global partnerships and expansion in the works at Global Affairs for 2024.

Stepheney Odom–Thomas is a 3rd year student double majoring in Global Studies Environments and Sustainability and Foreign Affairs with a minor in Korean Language and Literature. She shares how global immersion at UVA helped her find her intersts and encourages all students to get involved.

This January, UVA students participated in 18 January-term study abroad courses that took them to places as distant and diverse as Ecuador, the United Arab Emirates, India, Kenya, and Vietnam, among other places.

January-Term or J-term as it is popularly known meets at the start of the year and is designed to foster interest in diverse topics students might not have an opportunity to explore during the year. It concludes in mid-January.

UVA Global spoke to four faculty who offered the courses this year about their offerings.

The University of Virginia faculty and students spent summer months researching, interning, studying and teaching in different parts of the world, an essential part of UVA experience that was on hold during the pandemic. Here are a few recollections:

Susan Curl graduated with a degree in Spanish Language and Culture in 2007. Today Curl is an experienced translation professional with operations and business development experience in the U.S., Spain, and the Middle East. Curl Translations has grown exponentially and handles more than 60 language combinations, specializes in 12 different sectors, and works with clients in 15 countries. She looks back to her experience in UVA in Valencia program that started it all.

Rudene Mercer Haynes is a Chambers-ranked securitization attorney and Executive Committee member of Hunton, Andrews, Kurth, a nationally recognized law firm in Northern Virginia. She recalls her experience in Valencia when she was a UVA student.

Fernando Operé teaches colonial and 19th century Latin American literature and Spanish and Latin American poetry in UVA’s Spanish, Italian and Portuguese department. As founder and director of UVA’s Valencia program, he looks back as the program celebrates its 40^th anniversary.

Liz Wellbeloved is assistant director of UVA’s longest-running study abroad program. A first-generation student, she has helped thousands of students explore options in Valencia.

Gregory Perryman has been selected as a Fellow and will conduct a comparative study of social justice leadership in the United States, South Africa and Ireland.

A record seventeen Education Abroad Programs took the University of Virginia students to places as distant and diverse as Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Kenya, and Vietnam, among other places for the first time since the pandemic disrupted travel in 2020.

Reese Hertel learned to appreciate nature while growing up in Charlottesville. Now, he seeks to bring his passion for the environmental global, interning in Guatemala and studying in Valencia to prepare himself for career as a Latin America-focused environmental engineer.